Latin Quotes, Sayings, Tattoos, Phrases & Mottos

Most texts and materials on this site have to do with the Latin language, including its perception in popular culture: movies, tattoos, inscriptions, engravings, bits of ancient philosophy, online Latin resources and company names. There is also information about learning Latin and Greek: textbooks, dictionaries, DVDs and software that can be used in a homeschooling environment.

"Lectio Equaria Palaestra" - Can horses read?

This is just too bizarre not to mention here. Alexandr Nevzorov, a Russian film-maker well-known for his eccentricity and right wing inclinations (as well as genuine love for horses), has released a new movie entitled "Lectio Equaria Palaestra." This Latin phrase can be translated as "Equine reading in the arena." In the movie, Nevzorov claims that as a follower of an Ancient school of equestrian training he is able to teach horses how to read (Masons and Knights Templar are, of course, mentioned indiscriminately). That's right, folks. Horses can read! But wait! They can read IN LATIN. Supposedly, these intelligent creatures can even communicate back using large cardboard letters, randomly arranged in front of the horses' eyes.

In this promotional clip for "Lectio Equaria Palaestra," the horse replies to Nevzorov's question "Who is in this picture?" The picture is a portrait of a woman, and the horse correctly answers: "UXOR." A circus trick, of course. Nevertheless, some people will be fooled by this! Every student of Latin knows that the language is nearly impossible to learn, whether you are human or equine.

Latin-English Dictionary

My Latin Assistant for Whitaker's Latin Words remains to be one of the most popular programs for Latinists worldwide. It is, however, limited to Windows users. Many people, myself included, sometimes want to have a Latin dictionary that can be used across various platforms (even an iPhone!). So, I decided to create a Latin-English dictionary based on W. Whitaker's wordlist. It is in PDF format and I colorized the entries and grammatical information, so it is easier to use. Naturally, this dictionary inherits whatever problems may exist in the original file, but it can still be extremely useful.

"On a special Valentine's Day celebrity edition of the show, which aired three days before the actual Valentine's day, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen reached the £1,000,000 question, which was "Translated from the Latin, what is the official motto of the United States?" The Bowens chose answer A, "In God We Trust," but the correct answer was actually answer B, "One Out of Many," which is the English translation for the Latin E pluribus Unum. Because they answered the £1,000,000 question incorrectly, they lost £468,000. However, the question turned out to be ambiguous, as "In God We Trust" is the legal motto for the United States; the phrase is found on many American monetary coins. Because of this, they were invited back to play again, reinstating their previously-lost £468,000 to bring them back up to £500,000. The contestants decided not to risk it this time and left with the £500,000. The first million pound question was never aired, but the second million pound question was."

(From Wikipedia's article on the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire)

The interesting thing here is that the knowledge of the actual Latin phrase "E pluribus unum" was not required of the contestants! It suffices to know that a certain phrases is translated a certain way. It goes to say that whenever Classical education looses popularity the decline in game show intelligence is soon to follow